


A Fortune Cookies Can't Predict

by saruma_aki



Series: Coldflash Week 2017 A [7]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Boys In Love, Chinese Food, Coldflashweek2017, Emotional Hurt, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fortune Cookies, Hypnosis, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Romance, Tumblr: coldflashweek, coldflashweek, coldflashweek2017a, it's brief, meta-human
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 00:46:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10628643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saruma_aki/pseuds/saruma_aki
Summary: He never really means to forget how dangerous Leonard can be. It honestly just happens. With how Leonard is now, with the level their relationship is at, it's hard to remember that the man before him wouldn't hesitate to shoot someone if given no choice.He certainly remembered now, but it wasn't the kind of reminder he ever wanted.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Day Seven of Coldflash Week 2017 in April.
> 
> Prompt: Under the Influence
> 
> Oh dear. This one was something. I had lots of fun writing this one.
> 
> Enjoy!

He was pretty sure none of them really knew what to make of the situation when suddenly Joe was bereft of his gun and they were all being held at gun point by a certain criminal with cold eyes and a blank face. It was an expression Barry knew well, had seen it so many times—not necessarily directed at him—and would know it despite the age of the person.

“Leonard,” Barry began, not even flinching as the gun was turned on him. He knew Leonard, knew he wouldn’t pull the trigger unless he was given reason to do so, “do you know who I am?”

“No,” was the curt response he received and he let out a slow stream of air, trying to figure out how he was going to work around this.

“Of course he doesn’t. Why the hell are you so difficult, Snart?” Cisco yelled and Barry wasn’t even surprised at the sound of the gun shot that echoed throughout the room. Barry sighed, dropping the bullet onto the ground, throwing a glare at Cisco.

Everyone looked distinctly alarmed, their eyes wide and jaws slack. Leonard’s own jaw was locked tight, his eyes narrowed, his hand steady, the gun still pointed at them. He didn’t even flinch at Barry’s use of the speed-force, but Barry knew that the male was probably devising several ways to get the bullet to reach its target the next time.

“Alright, well something happened,” Barry began, edging away from his friends so that Leonard could actually see separation between them, that Barry would treat him differently than the others. “You know your name is Leonard Snart,” he waited for a nod before continuing, “and how old are you?”

“Thirteen.”

“Well, this is going to be hard to explain, so do you mind lowering the gun while I try to clear this whole thing up?”

Leonard regarded him coldly before slowly lowering the gun, throwing an icy look at Barry’s friends and family before returning hard blue eyes to Barry. “Explain,” he hissed, face still an expressionless mask.

He thanked everything in the universe that Leonard, regardless of his age, was still somewhat levelheaded.

 

 

 

Barry watched Leonard stare at Lisa blankly as she tried to keep Leonard calm, but all Leonard did was stare at her, his eyes dead, looking for the entire world like he could care less about the woman in front of him. But as Barry looked closely, he could see something akin to relief reflected in Leonard’s posture, in the way his shoulders sagged just a bit.

“You steal,” Leonard asked suddenly and Lisa stopped, blinking slowly, looking at Leonard who sat stock straight on the medical bed, look ready for something to happen that would require his attention immediately—always on guard.

“Not really,” Lisa admitted, the words rolling out of her mouth slowly, almost hesitantly. “You don’t let me.”

“Good,” was all Leonard offered up in response, responses still short and soft, silent power behind them.

It made Barry remember how Leonard had said that he had always wanted Lisa to be more than what he would ever be able to be. There was really no chance for Leonard ever getting a job outside of stealing. He had been in jail one time too many and was half Arab. It would’ve been hard for him to get a job to begin with, even if he had grown up in a loving home and had gotten to go to college. But throw in his jail time, his race, the fact that he hadn’t gone to college, and the fact that due to the fact that he grew up in an abusive home he hardly retained the knowledge of anything taught at school because he was either not there or unable to pay attention through the exhaustion and pain, and you ended up with someone who would never be accepted in society no matter what he tried.

It was a harsh reality that made Barry sick because how was he expected to blame the man completely for stealing and doing what he does when the world literally did not offer him an alternative.

And Leonard had wanted Lisa to have everything Leonard knew he wouldn’t have. He wanted Lisa to not have to steal, to have the smallest criminal record possible in their situation. Lisa was white, her race wasn’t an issue. He wanted her to have a minimal amount of scars and trauma and tried his best to make it so, as long as he could protect her.

So it broke Barry’s heart a bit so see the lessening of tension in Leonard’s frame at the admission that his sister was fine and didn’t steal all that often and grew up healthy and strong—a relief that his sacrifices paid off.

It took no longer than another two minutes before Leonard’s expression shifted from blank to mild irritation. “I need you all to be quiet,” he muttered, reaching up to rub his temples. Barry blinked, about to ask why, but a warning look from Lisa made his jaw click shut and cast a look over at everyone else to keep their mouths shut as well.

Lisa knew young Leonard better than anyone and she understood his tones better than anyone. Barry wasn’t going to pretend he somehow understood Leonard better or some crap like that when he didn’t know Leonard when he was this young.

“Do you guys have a solution yet?” Leonard finally asked, opening his eyes to look over at them. He looked so much like the Leonard Barry knew but with dark curls and a thinner frame. Barry was pretty sure if he lifted Leonard’s shirt he’d be able to count the man’s ribs. Hell, he could do that now when Leonard was older and older Leonard had considerably more mass on him than this younger Leonard.

He wondered how long it took Leonard to get to the point he was at now when he was older, how long it took him to go from this starving version of himself to the healthy man he was today. He wondered if Lisa had looked like this, too.

“Not yet, but we’re working on it,” Caitlin responded from where she was looking at the blood work and the readings on the monitor.

“What happened before I got like this,” Leonard asked, looking at Barry. Barry knew the man wanted answers, wanted to understand what was going on. The guy was in a time he didn’t know with people he was expected to trust when his whole thirteen years of life that he remembered told him that it was a bad idea.

“We were fighting a meta-human and she hit you, I suppose. I didn’t see it happening—it was so chaotic,” Barry whispered, edging a bit closer, needing to be close, needing Leonard to see the sincerity in his eyes, to trust him, to work with them on this find out how to reverse it. “You were fine, but you said your head felt funny while we were heading back here. And then we were debriefing, Joe came in to ask for my help on something, and then next thing we know you’re thirteen and shooting Cisco.” The last part was said with a small, wry grin that made the corners of Leonard’s lips twitch upwards just barely, curling into the familiar smirk and it brightened his eyes just a bit.

It made Barry’s heart swell.

“Where’s the meta-human?”

“Iron Heights,” Joe cut in, looking up from his phone and Leonard’s eyes flicked over to him, judging, sizing him up.

“Go talk to them,” Leonard instructed, sliding off of the bed, walking over to one of the computers, powering it on. Barry felt he should be impressed with Leonard’s adaptability but Leonard had always been like that, had always been able to adjust to any given scenario. He typed away while Barry edged a bit closer to look over his shoulders, more admiring the way Leonard’s fingers flew across the keys with no hesitation or pause.

“Why should I do that?”

“We’re clearly lacking on information. Your doctor lady isn’t going to find anything in my blood other than maybe residual effects of whatever the meta-human did. It won’t be much use,” Leonard reasoned, and Barry realized the man was looking at forms of hypnosis. “Go to the meta-human,” he instructed again, clicking on a link and motioning for Barry to look at it before moving away from the table. “Tell them they hit a civilian—don’t give my name; there’s always potential that they recognized me and specifically aimed for me, in which case they won’t offer information that can help me.”

Joe cocked an unimpressed eyebrow. “And what makes you think they’ll offer up the information regardless?”

“Say you’ll reduce their sentence,” Leonard responded easily, shrugging his shoulders. “If they’re dumb enough to commit a crime in broad daylight and fail by not accounting for a resident Speedy Gonzalez, then they’re not going to be smart enough to realize that’s not in your jurisdiction—especially when you’re the one offering.”

“And what will you be doing here?”

“We’ll be trying to jog his memory,” Barry responded, the pieces falling into place in his mind. “If we can locate his older consciousness, maybe it can trigger something that’ll reverse it.”

“And how are you going to do that?”

“Hypnosis,” Leonard responded shortly. “It’s proven to work and it’s better than letting you guys hook me up to some machine.”

Barry gave Joe a pointed looks as the man looked ready to argue again, making the man’s shoulders sag slightly in defeat.

“I’ll head over there now,” Joe muttered, turning and walking out.

“Lisa,” Leonard instructed, watching the girl’s head perk up, watching him with a warm look in her eyes that made Barry feel tingly inside. Seeing the concern these two siblings held for each other was always heart-warming and it made him happy to know that despite the hardships they had faced, they had each other through it all. “Do you remember how to do hypnosis?”

She nodded and he sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face. “Look at this over here—refresh your memory. I imagine I haven’t asked you to do this recently?”

She shook her head. “You’re better, now, at managing everything.”

He nodded again.

“Alright, let’s get to work, then,” he muttered, looking more exhausted than Barry had ever seen him.

He wondered if Leonard used to always look like that.

He wondered if that was why he slept so much nowadays.

Barry wished he could stop wondering.

It was getting depressing.

 

 

 

“Becoming comatose is not normal for post-hypnosis,” Caitlin hissed, rushing around Leonard’s prone form. Lisa didn’t look concerned, though, sitting calmly beside the bed. Caitlin rushed to connect him to a heart monitor and get a reading from him, trying to figure out why he was like this.

“It’s normal for him,” Lisa responded easily, tapping away idly on her phone. “I wouldn’t recommend doing that. He’ll break your equipment.”

Caitlin froze mid-action and Barry watched the exchange with a curious look. It was weird, learning these small tidbits of information about Leonard as a kid from a source other than Leonard and in such a way that it was almost unintentional. It made him feel guilty, like the information lodging itself in his brain made him a bad person even though he couldn’t exactly help what both Leonard and Lisa unintentionally revealed.

“Why would he break our equipment?” Cisco asked, eying Leonard warily like he was going to jerk up and attack them all like a rabid animal.

Lisa gave them a deadpan look.

“Hospitals—safety hazard,” Barry muttered, sighing softly, getting all the medical equipment away from Leonard. “How long does this usually take?”

“Fifteen minutes. If he was gone any longer,” Lisa trailed off, lips pursing slightly, her shoulder twitching like the scar there burned. Barry didn’t want to imagine what would’ve happened if Leonard was gone for longer than fifteen minutes, didn’t want to imagine Lewis’ heavy footsteps or the sound of the door banging against the wall, or Lisa’s cries, or the sound of hands meeting the soft skin of two perfectly innocent children.

Barry nodded, settling in the chair on the other side of Leonard, trying to shake the images from his mind.

“What’d you guys do for fun?” he found himself asking about five minutes later, Caitlin and Cisco off in the other room making coffee.

Lisa looked up at him, her gaze cautious but a bit more open. “What has Leonard told you?”

He shrugged. “He mentioned once that there were times where you guys would be home alone without the threat of _him_ coming back at night and you would hang out.” He shifted awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m just trying to pass the time.”

Barry watched her lean back in her chair, her eyes fixing themselves on the ceiling. It was silent for a minute more before Lisa took in a quiet breath. “There was a deck of cards Leonard had, stole them off of some kid. We would build structures out of them, anything and everything we could make. They were easy to hide and whatever structure we made would crumple easily the second the car door slammed, so it was an early warning system, too,” she mumbled, tilting her head back down to look at Leonard’s silent form.

“Oh,” was all Barry could manage to get out.

“He still plays with them sometimes. I’m surprised you haven’t seen him do it,” Lisa murmured, lacing her fingers together.

“I’ve seen the cards, never seen him do anything with them,” he admitted quietly.

She hummed in response, twisting one of the rings on her fingers. “He only does it when he’s really sad.” She looked up at him. “He used to play with them a lot, but since you,” she trailed off, her eyes flicking to focus on Barry. It was a soft admission but so packed with meaning that it made Barry’s heart stutter and his cheeks flush and warmth bloom inside of him.

“He makes me happy, too.”

Going by Lisa’s smile, she heard the sincerity in his voice.

 

 

 

“Do you remember anything?”

Leonard shook his head, pressing the heels of his palms to his temples, eyes squeezing shut.

“Leonard? Len, what’s wrong?”

Leonard shook his head again and Barry placed a gentle hand on the male’s shoulder to stabilize him when he swayed to one side, concern coloring his features as he took in the tightness in the male’s jaw and the way his lips were pursed, the way the heels of his palms were pressing as hard as possible to his temples.

“Lisa, is this normal?” He looked over at her frantically but she looked just as concerned as he did, stepping a bit closer.

“I think we’re going to hook you up to Dr. Snow’s tech, okay,” Lisa murmured, her voice soft and assuring, motioning for Caitlin to step closer who was already preparing the little pads. “Lenny, move your hands,” Lisa whispered, waiting for Leonard to slowly put down his hands, nails digging into his palms.

Caitlin took her cue, then, stepping closer and gently placing the pads on Leonard’s head, moving as quickly as possible without messing up and risking having to re-do one. Once she was finished, she hurried away and Barry took a step closer, his heart seizing as he watched Leonard’s expression twist in pain before suddenly going blank.

“Does it still hurt?” he couldn’t help but ask, no longer sure as he watched Leonard’s hands loosen.

“Yeah,” the boy mumbled, eyes flicking to look at Barry. “Nothing I can do about it, though.”

“Barry,” Caitlin called over, staring at her monitors. He walked over after giving Leonard a small, tight smile, glancing over Caitlin’s shoulder at the screen. “I think it worked—or partially, at least. The amount of brain activity going on is astounding—no wonder he has the headache,” she breathed out.

“Those parts aren’t supposed to be active,” Barry breathed, gesturing to the parts he was talking about and Caitlin nodded her head. “Is that his mind trying to push the memories forward?”

“I think so—but those are the only areas with such activity. Everywhere else is normal. I think he actually uses more of his brain than most people.”

Barry looked over at Leonard. “Alright, what do we do with this?”

She shrugged. “We wait. If the memories surface, they surface. If they don’t, they don’t. There’s nothing I can do to help it along—not that he’d let me.”

Barry nodded, casting another glance at the screen. “Cisco, any word from Joe,” he called over, praying to hear a positive response from the male.

“Not yet, but I’m sure we’ll hear something soon,” was the response he received and he sighed, carding his fingers through his hair before moving back over to the medical bed where Lisa was whispering to Leonard who was staring down at his hands, presumably working through the pain.

Barry couldn’t imagine what that had to feel like. It seemed pretty awful if the way Leonard would jerk at certain points, the tendons in his neck being thrown into sharp relief, was anything to go by. He wanted to hold the male close, to take the pain away, but he knew Leonard wouldn’t appreciate that—neither young or older Leonard would appreciate that.

“Caitlin, is there anything you can give him for the pain?”

“I don’t—I don’t know what the affects would be if I did. His mind is trying to push forth memories he didn’t possess at this age but are still in his brain, just locked away. Giving him something for the pain might stop whatever his brain is doing and make the point of doing this moot.”

“So what,” he asked, looking at Leonard, the pain written in the tension in the corners of his eyes and the way his breath shuddered just slightly as it was let out in a harsh stream through his nose. “This seems like a bit much. Joe might have something useful.”

“‘Might’ being the key word,” Leonard cut in. “Listen to your doctor friend, Barry.”

“Len,” he whispered.

“We had two plans. Two in case one fails. You can’t stop one before you know whether the other one works.”

“So, when Joe calls—if this hasn’t worked—and he has the solution, will you take something for the pain then?”

Leonard nodded and Barry inhaled shakily, lips pursing tight.

“Alright,” he mumbled even though it didn’t feel like it.

 

 

 

It took three days.

Three days of watching Leonard stare at the ceiling from where he was made to lay down after blacking out from the pain the first time and nearly tumbling off the bed. Three days of holding his hand once he was finally allowed to and feeling the fingers twitch sporadically against his as the pain steadily grew worse. Three days of waiting for Joe to get something, anything out of the meta-human.

And then they finally had it.

“He was right,” Joe announced as he came into the room.

“Right about what,” Cisco asked, casting a glance back over at Leonard who was guarded on both sides by Lisa and Barry.

“You have to trigger the memories in order to undo it.”

A pitiful whine escaped Barry as he pressed his forehead against his and Leonard’s joined hands, trying to make sense of the kind of rotten luck they had. Truly abominable luck, honestly, but when he looked up, Leonard had a wry sort of grin on his face.

“Of course I was right,” he muttered, shaking his head a bit, shifting slowly, almost painfully, onto his side so that he could bury his face in the pillow Caitlin had provided. “Do I still eat Chinese food?” he asked and to Barry it seemed like the most random question, but he answered anyway, spotting Lisa’s small grin even if the corners of her mouth were tight with concern.

“Yeah, but you refuse to touch the fortune cookies.”

“Smart me, then,” he muttered, eyes closing and Barry watched as Leonard literally forced himself into unconsciousness. He had seen the male do it countless times, typically in less harsh circumstances. The man could go to sleep at the drop of a hat just like he would jerk awake at the drop of one. It was a little bit amazing, a little bit worrying, and a lot adorable.

“Caitlin, is there any change in his brain readings,” Barry asked, stroking his thumb over the back of Leonard’s hand, feeling the slimness of the digits grasping his and seeing the thinness of his wrist.

If Lewis Snart was still alive, Barry would’ve gone and killed the man right at that moment because now, seeing the actual thing in person, the ‘in progress’ work, it made bile rise in his throat. He had hated the man the second he found out what he did to his children, but looking at how thin this young version of Leonard was, the edges of a scar he could see peeking out from under the male’s sleeves and the bruises rest on the sharp collarbones, he hated him even more.

Apparently whatever the meta-human did reverted Leonard’s body to the exact state it had been in at that point in time, as well.

“They’re decreasing a bit. We can only hope that means that the memories are filtering through and emerging. He certainly seems to recognize this place a bit more.”

He nodded, leaning forward so that he could fold his free arm on the bed and rest his head on it, looking at Leonard’s face that was tight with pain even in sleep.

He hoped everything was better come morning.

 

 

 

It wasn’t.

 

 

 

It took a week before Leonard reverted back to his regular age. It was dark, roughly three in the morning when Barry heard a soft groan from beside him, felt the bed shift and he looked over to see Leonard—older Leonard—shifting to a sitting position, his free hand coming up to rub at his temples once he was situated, the other firmly in Barry’s grasp.

“Oh my god, you’re back,” Barry cried out, jumping up and awkwardly clambering onto the bed to pull Leonard, who was still a bit disoriented and feeling the after effects of the headache, into a tight hug.

He felt Leonard tense before slowly relaxing, his head tucking into the curve of Barry’s neck, arms coming up to hug Barry back. They just sat like that, a little bit awkwardly positioned, Barry’s thigh pressing against Leonard’s, his cheeks hurting from how wide he was smiling.

“That had to be one of the longest weeks of my life,” Leonard grumbled, rubbing his forehead against Barry’s neck, like he was trying to rub away the last of the headache without having to use his hands.

He laughed a little brokenly, clutching tighter at the male. “You are so ridiculously strong,” he whispered, turning his head to press his lips to Leonard’s temple. “I don’t know how you pushed yourself through it, but you did and I’m so happy you’re back. Little Leonard was adorable, but he made me consider necromancy.”

Leonard released a soft snort into the side of his neck, turning his head so that their eyes could meet. “Why did thirteen year old me make you consider necromancy?”

“Because I wanted to revive your father so that I could kill him myself,” Barry admitted, tilting his head down further so that their lips could meet in a chaste kiss, “which I should be ashamed to say, but I’m really not.”

“I appreciate the thought,” Leonard chuckled, pulling out of the embrace to tug off the pads still stuck to his head that Barry had completely forgotten about in his excitement. “You know what I want?”

“What?”

“Chinese food,” Leonard said, shifting to slip off the bed. “There’s a place nearby that’s still open and delivers. We should order.”

“No fortune cookies, though?”

“Absolutely not,” Leonard answered with a small smirk.

“What is the story behind you and fortune cookies? You asked about it while you were de-aged.”

Leonard looked up from where he was dragging up the menu on one of the computers, dialing the number into Barry’s phone—and Barry wasn’t going to even bother asking how the man got it. “I got a fortune cookie when I was eleven that said ‘those who suffer are the wisest’ and then another one that said ‘the road with great pain has the most gain at the end’ and well,” he waved a hand about as if his past and present were a painting on the wall.

That summarized it pretty perfectly, though.

“Haven’t been wrong a single time if it was something that was supposed to cause me pain, so I don’t eat fortune cookies anymore,” Leonard admitted, motioning for Barry to look at the menu. “It’s kind of childish, but I never liked the taste of them anyway, so whatever.”

“It’s understandable is what it is,” Barry responded, pressing their lips together again. God, he had missed doing that, missed the way Leonard let Barry maneuver him around into it with minimal to no protest. “I want the chicken lo mein and sweet pork,” Barry told him once they pulled apart and he delighted in the soft smile Leonard gave him that Barry knew was special just for him.

And that’s how they were found at six in the morning, sitting on the med bed, a pile of fortune cookies on the floor, unopened, and containers of Chinese food littered about, only half of them still full since Leonard had ordered a crap ton for Barry.

And Barry just felt really happy to have Leonard back safe and sound.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> You can find me on instagram ( @saruma_aki ) and on tumblr ( @saruma-aki )--the tumblr is with a dash and the instagram with an underscore.
> 
> Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! <3


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